Walking 20 miles a week and not losing

I have been walking/jogging for a good month and a half The last 3 weeks i have bumped up my workouts and have gotten to 20 miles a week. i am working out everyday of the week some days harder then others. I have cut my intake of food and i have seen almost 2 inches come off my belly or rather my backside of my belly but the numbers on the scale are going now where and maybe even up... my only motivation that remains is that my clothes are fitting a bit better. Does anyone know what i am doing wrong?

I wouldn't worry too much about the number on the scales if your clothes are fitting better and you can tell a difference (i.e. you can tell you're losing inches on your waist). You are probably losing fat and gaining muscle, and since muscle weighs more than fat does, you can notice a difference in the way your body looks even though it might not be reflected in the scales.

Thank you, im just worried that the weight will never come off according to the scale and wondering if i should back off on the walking? Who knows i enjoy it and its a big stress reliever. Althought i have been dizzy since friday and they tell me its vertigo that will go away and i cant walk the next two days i plan on getting right back on the treadmill!

I wouldn't worry too much about the number on the scales if your clothes are fitting better and you can tell a difference (i.e. you can tell you're losing inches on your waist). You are probably losing fat and gaining muscle, and since muscle weighs more than fat does, you can notice a difference in the way your body looks even though it might not be reflected in the scales.

Hope that helps. :)

♥ Jessica

No it doesn't. It just takes up less space. Five pounds of feathers takes up more space than a five pound brick, but it weighs exactly the same.

However, I agree with everything else. Sometimes it takes a bit for the body to catch up with the activity. However, you haven't told us all your facts. Age, weight, height, calories. Being dizzy shouldn't be a normal thing

Well you bring up a good point. If you continue to walk and gain muscle, the weight loss may never be reflected on the scales. Also, you might reach a point where you won't be able to lose anymore weight, or at least not lose it easily, and if you continue to gain muscle you might bulk up, and though that would be healthier than being covered by fatty tissue, it would leave you at about the same weight your at now.

I would say you might want to cut down on your walking and only do it a few days a week. You also need to watch what you eat and make sure that you don't over- or under-do anything.

True. Sometimes when we are obsessed in doing something, we take think too much and do irrational things.

I agree. Sometimes we think that if we exercise an excessive amount we can lose the weight faster, but in reality we just risk harm to ourselves. We might lose the weight but we run the risk of putting it back on, plus some, even faster thus getting into the habit of yo-yo-ing. The best advice I can give would be to follow the old saying: "slow and steady wins the race".

Well you bring up a good point. If you continue to walk and gain muscle, the weight loss may never be reflected on the scales. Also, you might reach a point where you won't be able to lose anymore weight, or at least not lose it easily, and if you continue to gain muscle you might bulk up, and though that would be healthier than being covered by fatty tissue, it would leave you at about the same weight your at now.

I would say you might want to cut down on your walking and only do it a few days a week. You also need to watch what you eat and make sure that you don't over- or under-do anything.

♥ Jessica.

Wrong, she won't bulk up! She is not male and presumably not taking testosterone or steroids so it is not possible for her to bulk up.. especially with exercise such as walking!

I suggest you follow your doctor's instructions and ease off the walking until you recover from the vertigo, then continue as before with walking as much as you can, it was working... you were losing inches.

Diet is as important as exercise in the process of weight loss. Continue to watch your calorie intake as well and you will see losses on the tape measure and on the scale.

No worries, if you are losing inches than you are losing weight. The scale can drive you crazy. I recommend rather than weighing yourself, measure yourself once a week. It's possible that your muscles are retaining water from the increase in activity--take a couple of rest days and see if there is a change. You also might be gaining muscle. I started running about 3 months ago and also started a strength training program, and while i've only lost about 6 lbs, i've lost inches all over my body and i'm down a dress size--that too me is much better than seeing the number on the scale go down.

More info on your stats and exactly what and how much you are eating would be very helpful in figuring this out. You may not be eating enough for the exercise you are getting. How often and for how long are you walking? You may need to add some weight training to your routine as well. If you are losing inches that is a good start, more important than the number on the scale although I know seeing it go down helps keep us motivated :)

Well not really, but what I think you mean is that if you are losing inches but not weight, than you are likely losing fat, which is probably the goal here.

You won't continue to gain muscle, though, since as a female it is difficult to gain muscle mass, period, and almost impossible if you aren't lifting a lot of weights. Walking is not a muscle mass increasing activity.

Take a good look at your diet if you continuento walk and not lose any weight, it's very difficult to offset a bad diet with a sane exercise routine. You said you 'cut' your intake, but gave no info about what you actually eat.

Well not really, but what I think you mean is that if you are losing inches but not weight, than you are likely losing fat, which is probably the goal here.

You won't continue to gain muscle, though, since as a female it is difficult to gain muscle mass, period, and almost impossible if you aren't lifting a lot of weights. Walking is not a muscle mass increasing activity.

Take a good look at your diet if you continuento walk and not lose any weight, it's very difficult to offset a bad diet with a sane exercise routine. You said you 'cut' your intake, but gave no info about what you actually eat.

The scale is just a tool to monitor your progress, but it's not the only tool you should relay on for results. Clearly, you're doing something right because you're losing inches. Trust me, when you fit into smaller clothes, the number on the scale wont really matter. I have been at the same weight for months (yes, months), but I can tell I'm trimming down in my hips and legs. Keep up the good work. Eat healthy, enjoy your treats here and there and keep being active...that's the recipe for success!

I'm with everyone else on this. Who cares how much you weigh if you are looking better? However, you are walking just under 3 miles daily if you are getting 20 miles weekly. If you want to see the numbers come down, bump your walks up to 4 miles a day. (Many people can average 15 minute miles so this is only 1 hour daily.) Reducing what you eat is not as important as watching what you eat. Are you monitoring caloric intake? Losing weight is simple math. 3500 calories = 1 pound. Do an internet search for a calculator to determine your basal metabolic rate and go from there. I'm a 31 year old female, 5'6" and 139 pounds. (I'm trying to get to 130.) My BMR is around 1200 calories and that doesn't leave a lot of room for M&Ms without a good workout. I walk/jog 7-10 miles 5-6 tmes weekly to keep up with my sweet tooth. I use a Garmin GPS watch to monitor my distance, time, speed and calories. It has really helped me keep focused. Good luck!

i feel ya. ive been doing the same thing. i keep within my caloric intake and doing my biggest loser: last chance workout dvd 6 days a week following all the instruction i have received and i havent budged in 2 weeks....it makes me want to scream!!

I am 180 and 5'2 my calories i have been intaking are 1200, im confused thought because i do an online thing and i eat actually more around 1500 a day but i burn depending on the day calories and it offsets my intake amount? so some days its less like 1000 calories actually intaken or others its like 1200 because i vary from day to day i dont walk 3 miles everyday i do 2 one day 3 the next 1 the next then like 5 and then back off again maybe back down to 2 or one.

As you can see i CLEARLY need to lose actual pounds im far to overweight to just gain muscle in place of fat thats what worry's me i dont mind it now but in the long term i dont want to just be building muscle i need to be losing weight! 60 pounds to be exact.

My experience at the same weight: the effect of walking 20 miles a week was a calorie burn of about 20 miles x 70 cal/mile = 1400 calories above my BMR. If this was the only way I had to generate a deficit it would take me 2-1/2 weeks to lose a pound. I wouldn't expect to see believable scale numbers for 2-3 months. And with small deficits it's easy to wipe out progress with a few eating "mistakes".

Consequently I walked more (50-70 miles a week), and tried to keep my eating down to my BMR level. I was able to maintain deficits of 500-1000 calories per day and continued losing 1-2 lbs a week until I got to 165 lbs.

Im honestly confused one site says to eat this amount another says something else. According to this site my BMR is 1615, is that how many calories i need to eat in a day? I have no idea how many calories i really should be eating and then throw exercises on top of that what it does... say im only eating 1000 a day and im exercising 300 a day does that mean im getting the 1000 deficit i need to be losing a week?

It depends on what information you entered to determine your BMR. Did it ask your activity level? If so, the calculator has already included your activity in your BMR. Your BMR is the amount of calories you need to maintain your current weight at whatever activity level you entered. (I enter very little activity to calculate my BMR. Basically I want to know what I need to stay alive without exercise. I use this number to base exercise and food and predict weight loss.)

To lose 2lbs a week, you want to be left with 615 calories each day. Less for more weight loss. You can do this by eating less or exercising more. Say you ate 1200 calories today and burned 700 during a workout. You are left with 500 calories. You cut 1115 from your BMR of 1615. You could eat 1000 calories today and burn 500 during a workout and end with the same number, 1115. Seriously, check out My Calorie Counter. It does the math for you and gives you a number at the end of the day. The website also has menus for different calorie goals so you don't have to check caloric content. I've never used them but I've seen them.

I think i have everything down i am going to change up my diet a bit more and see how that goes. And i am back to walking/jogging 3+ miles a day so will see! thanks for all the advice i really do appreciate it!